"Christian psychologists" follow the theories of secular theorists and they pick up certain ideas and treat them as truth. One set of currently popular psychological notions is that people repress impulses and memories from consciousness and that those impulses and memories continue to act in powerful ways from an active, motivating unconscious.

Influence of Freud

Simply put, the scientifically unproven notion is that painful memories are pushed out of normal memory and packed into a powerful unconscious. Then those "forgotten" memories supposedly cause people to act in certain ways. The unproven Freudian-based idea is that if what is hidden in the unconscious can be exposed, then people will know why they behave the way they do and then with such self-knowledge they change their thinking and behaving. Thus, if a "forgotten" memory of abuse is "remembered" in therapy, that serves as an explanation for oneís present behavior. However, such theories contradict biblical doctrines on the nature of man and they deny biblical doctrines of personal responsibility and sin.

True or False Memories?

Are "forgotten" memories newly "remembered" by individuals in therapy true memories? Are they really viable explanations for why people are the way they are and why they do what they do today? Most people, including Christians, would answer "yes," especially if they are involved in "Christian" psychology or listen to "Christian" radio, or read the popular "Christian" books.

However, evidence reveals that memories are not as solid as they have been assumed to be. Moreover, there is no real evidence to prove Freudís theory of the unconscious or his theory of repression. And since there is no proof that what has been forgotten drives present behavior and feelings, it is pointless and counterproductive to search the past rather than look to the Lord and His word in the present. Believers are instructed to put off the old man. Even if real memories of painful events are resurrected, the negative results may be worse than having forgotten.

Faith in theories of an unconscious filled with forgotten memories that cause present behavior has led to a special genre of psychologists who specialize in satanic ritual abuse. Numerous Christians are counseling according to those theories of the unconscious, repression, and widespread traumatic amnesia. And countless Christians are newly "remembering" sexual and satanic ritual abuse in therapy and after reading books that encourage people to search for such memories.

Then, once people "remember" such horrible events, no amount of proof seems to dissuade them. Even when other family members say that the abuse could not have happened and when pediatricians and gynecologists report that such abuse could not have occurred, the person "remembering" the abuse continues to maintain that those memories are true.

The result is not greater understanding of what actually happened. Instead, the clients seem to "need" perpetual therapy. And, those accused of the abuse are further accused of denial (another Freudian defense mechanism). They are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, rather than innocent until proven guilty.

What Kind of Abuse?

Our question is this: could the abuse be occurring in therapy? Not sexual abuse, but rather abuse of the mind? Abuse of memories? Abuse of family members who are blamed, accused, rejected, and sued? Answers to these questions are not easy, because the human mind is the most intricate and least understood aspect of creation.

However, certain assumptions stemming from the extensive influence of Freudian theory on our culture are now being looked at and reexamined. Research on memory is important for Christians to watch, because too many myths are believed as truth and too many promoters and followers of "Christian" psychology think that those assumptions are part of their "discovered" truth from God.

PrimeTime aired a special segment on this kind of therapy January 7, 1993. The television program showed therapy sessions and interviews with therapists. One leading therapist in this movement truly believes there are hundreds of thousands of victims of satanic ritual abuse who have repressed the memories. PrimeTime also showed part of one seminar being given to therapists, to teach them how to "help" clients "remember" through hypnosis.

PrimeTime also interviewed Dr. George Ganaway, who has interviewed numerous satanic ritual abuse patients. He said that not one had proved to be the result of actual satanic ritual abuse. Instead, he said that such memories are formed through the person absorbing information in a highly suggestible state of mind.

Christians are not exempt from such therapy or from the accusations of abuse allegedly remembered in therapy. Also featured on the program were Mr. and Mrs. Grady whose story was told in D Magazine.1 Their family had been close until their daughter Gloria entered psychological therapy in hopes of losing weight. Through regressive therapy aimed at locating the "key" to her weight problem in her past, Gloria came to believe that her family had involved her in satanic ritual abuse. The power of Gloriaís memories are so strong that even the clear evidence presented in court, which disproved her allegations, did not dissuade her from believing those memories. The parents are still hoping to regain their daughter, but even to the airing of the PrimeTime Special, Gloria declared that she still believed her memories.

How Accurate Are Our Memories?

Some people would have us think that the memory is like a tape recorder that records every event accurately and keeps it intact. But, research on memory has debunked that myth and raised many questions about common misconceptions about remembering and forgetting.

For instance, how accurate are childhood memories? Does the vividness of the recall increase the validity of a memory? The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget describes a clear memory from his own early childhood:

I can still see, most clearly, the following scene, in which I believed until I was about fifteen. I was sitting in my pram, which my nurse was pushing in the Champs Elysťes, when a man tried to kidnap me. I was held in by the strap fastened round me while my nurse bravely tried to stand between me and the thief. She received various scratches, and I can still see vaguely those on her face. Then a crowd gathered, a policeman with a short cloak and a white baton came up, and the man took to his heels. I can still see the whole scene, and can even place it near the tube station.

Notice the details of this memory. Nevertheless, Piaget then says his clear memory is of an event that never happened. His nurse had confessed when he was about fifteen years old. Piaget says:

She had made up the whole story, faking the scratches. I, therefore, must have heard, as a child, the account of this story, which my parents believed, and projected into the past in the form of a visual memory.2

Memories are created out of images, overheard conversations, dreams, suggestions, and imagination as well as out of actual events. And they change over time. Even as we remember we tend to fill in the gaps. Therefore, each time a memory is recalled it is also recreated with the emotions accompanying the recall and with the imagination which fills in the gaps.

Elizabeth Loftus is well-known for her research on memory. She begins her book Memory: Surprising New Insights into How We Remember and Why We Forget by describing her own memory of her father after he had died. At first her thoughts of him were filled with recent images of him suffering the final stages of cancer. She says:

Then, gradually, my thoughts of him began to include some happier images. I saw him standing in the yard, holding a scrawny cat. I saw him in the living room surrounded by smiling family. I even thought about him holding me on his lap when I was no older than four.3

Then she realized the source of those memories. She had photographs of each event. She was remembering the pictures. Thus her memory was enhanced by additional visual information.

Remembering is not running an invisible tape recorder back to an event. It is pulling together bits and pieces of information that logically fit together. Nor can we depend on accuracy. Even immediate recall may be inaccurate simply because of an initial failure to perceive accurately. That is why those who testify about a particular event may have completely different stories.

Memories are also very malleable. They change even as we recall past events. Loftus says:

With the passage of time, with proper motivation, with the introduction of special kinds of interfering facts, the memory traces seem sometimes to change or become transformed. These distortions can be quite frightening, for they can cause us to have memories of things that never happened.4

Even under the best circumstances, our memory is incomplete. We creatively fill in details with probabilities. Because of this natural inclination and because of the possibility of creating new memories through hypnosis and other forms of suggestion, Christians should be cautious about any counseling that looks for the keys of todayís behavior in so-called repressed memories in some controlling unconscious.

Through various techniques of regressive therapy and hypnosis, counselees are uncovering what they believe to be true memories to find out why they are the way they are. However, research on memory does not support the claims about repressed memories of trauma being accurately and indelibly imprinted through years of being forgotten. Instead, research on memory indicates that the very act of remembering involves creativity and imagination.

People do not generally remember every word said in a conversation, though they may remember certain parts. Nor do they remember every detail or fact. In comparison to the entire event, they only recall a few facts that were significant. Then, as they remember, they fill in those details that seem to make sense and complete the picture with what Dr. Elizabeth Loftus calls "probable inferences." She explains:

This process of using inferences and probable facts to fill in the gaps of our memories has been called "refabrication," and it probably occurs in nearly all of our everyday perceptions. We supply these bits and pieces, largely unconsciously, to round out fairly incomplete knowledge.1

Thus, even without interference or suggestion there is a certain amount of creativity in remembering.

However, with certain interferences, suggestions, or cues there is even a greater amount of creativity to the extent of creating false memories. In her book Memory, Loftus describes an experiment conducted with a series of slides showing the sequence of an automobile-pedestrian accident. She gives this information about what the subjects saw on the slides:

A red auto was traveling along a side street toward an intersection at which there was a stop sign for half of the traffic and a yield sign for the remaining traffic. The slides showed the auto turning right and knocking down a pedestrian who was crossing at the crosswalk.2

After the subjects viewed the slides, an experimenter questioned them about what they had seen. Some of the subjects were asked questions that included incorrect information. Others were asked questions which included correct information. Those who had been fed wrong information through the questions did poorly on recall and thought they had actually seen a slide with the information that had been suggested in the questions. Through this and other experiments, researchers have demonstrated that when false information is introduced, the memory can be altered.3

Hypnosis and Memory

When similar experiments have been conducted under hypnosis the results are even worse, since hypnotized people are even more susceptible to suggestion. Loftus says that this research shows that "hypnosis does not reduce retrieval difficulties; it does not allow people to retrieve a true memory."4 Numerous research studies show that what is remembered under hypnosis is just as likely to be false as it is to be true. Dr. Martin Orne, a well-known researcher of hypnosis says, "Hypnotic memory is clearly less accurate than normal waking recall."5

Dr. Bernard Diamond, professor of law and clinical professor of psychiatry, says research demonstrates that hypnotized people "graft onto their memories fantasies or suggestions deliberately or unwittingly communicated by the therapist" and that "after hypnosis the subject cannot differentiate between a true recollection and a fantasy or a suggested detail."6 Loftus found that after such experiments as described above, subjects continued to recall the false memory rather than what they initially saw.7 Yet countless therapists, including Christians, use hypnosis in their search for hidden memories that supposedly will unlock secrets to explain present behavior.

Repressed Memories

While there is strong evidence that we do not remember everything totally accurately even under normal recall, there is also strong evidence that we do not tend to forget significant events in our lives. We may try to forget horrible experiences and we may reduce their impact, but the popular idea of a vast number of people having repressed memories of past abuse is just thatóa popular idea. Research does not support that kind of amnesia to the extent that it is being promoted. Rather than being common, such amnesia is quite rare. Nevertheless, faith in repressed memories is widespread, thanks to such books as The Courage to Heal, with such statements as: "If you donít remember your abuse you are not alone. Many women donít have memories, and some never get memories. This doesnít mean they werenít abused."8

While one cannot conduct experiments in which memories of abuse are implanted during the experiment because of the resulting damage to the subjects, Loftus has conducted research on people (of wide age ranges) who were told by a relative that they were lost when they were five years old. According to Loftus, after the subjects were convinced they had been lost, they not only remembered the details told to them, but added even more details. The evidence of the power of suggestion to create the memory even without the use of hypnosis is amazing.9

Research on memory is extremely important in terms of Christians seeking counseling.10 If the therapy is regressive in that it searches the memory for past events to explain present behavior, there is a strong possibility that false memories will be created. And once they are created they are often stronger than true memories. This does not mean that all recall is false, but that there is a very great possibility that false memories will be created, especially if a therapist is looking for something in the past that he thinks is causing present "symptoms." Therefore, the assumption is that numerous individuals have been abused and that they have repressed the memories. That is a myth without evidence.

Right now there is a large therapeutic movement to uncover "forgotten" sexual abuse and even "satanic ritual abuse." The authors of The Courage to Heal (more than 500,000 copies sold) supply a long list of symptoms, of which at least one or more would apply to nearly everyone.11 Even though they have no research support, the authors are fully confident about their list of symptoms:

If you are unable to remember any specific instances. . . but still have a feeling that something abusive happened to you, it probably did. . . If you think you were abused and your life shows the symptoms, then you were.12 (Emphasis added.)

Here is an example of one of the exercises suggested in The Courage to Heal:

Take an event in your family history that you can never actually find out about. It could be your fatherís childhood or the circumstances in your motherís life that kept her from protecting you. Using all the details you do know, create your own story. Ground the experience or event in as much knowledge as you have and then let yourself imagine what actually might have happened.13 (Emphasis added.)

What kind of method is that for finding true memories and for finding any kind of valid evidence of what truly happened during a personís childhood? Exercises such as these are ways to form false memories.

In her article, "Beware the Incest-Survivor Machine," social psychologist and researcher Dr. Carol Tavris says that authors of such books seem to be ignorant of scientific research in this field, that they "all rely on one anotherís work as supporting evidence for their own," and that they quote one another for further support. Tavris says:

If one of them comes up with a concocted statisticósuch as "more than half of all women are survivors of childhood sexual trauma"óthe numbers are traded like baseball cards, reprinted in every book and eventually enshrined as fact. Thus the cycle of misinformation, faulty statistics and unvalidated assertions maintains itself.14

A large number of people undergoing psychotherapy are discovering memories that they did not know were there. And one of the great problems is that there is no way for the person to really know whether or not the memory is true or false. One that is created with strong emotional content will feel very real. In fact, it often feels more real than memories of actual events.

Therapy that attempts to help patients recall forgotten memories may include hypnosis, but that is not necessary. There are other techniques that are being taught. One is systematically guiding the process of remembering. Questions are asked to "jog" the memory. However, rather than "jogging" a real memory, they may be supplying the elements for creating new memories. Patients are encouraged to reconstruct events that are hazy and to visualize the location and other physical features. And when the patient begins to sense something the therapist will encourage the next bit of recall through questions that themselves may inadvertently imply incorrect information. In this creative endeavor there is a very strong possibility for suggestions to be made. While the purpose of such suggestions is to help the recall, they are often unintentionally deceptive.

To understand the power of a false memory, think of something you know happened today. Now, what if a person tells you that what you remember did not happen? Or, what if, after you have read this newsletter, someone tells you that it does not exist? That is why it was upsetting for some people who participated in memory experiments when false information was suggested, included in the memory, and then proved wrong. One person, who had seen a videotape of a woman with black hair and then received a suggestion under hypnosis that the woman was blond, said, "Itís really strange because I still have the blond girlís face in my mind and it doesnít correspond to her [the one on the videotape]." The person continued, "It was really weird."15

This also shows the power of hypnotically-enhanced memories. Once a memory has been changed it replaces the original memory. One does not have two competing memories (the old and the new). The original is gone. Even after seeing the evidence, the person continues to see the blond woman when recalling the memory of first seeing the videotape. Even external evidence may not convince some people of the reality of their memories that have been enhanced through hypnosis or other forms of suggestion and guided recall.

Worse than feeling weird or losing inconsequential details of memory is the fact that many people are suffering great pain in the kind of therapy which attempts to dredge up old memories to explain present problems. They are now living with horrible memories of events that probably never happened. And those memories are now defining their lives. They are now victims trying to recover from something that more than likely never happened. Souls are being lost through therapy that is meant to help. Rather than coming to the cross, burdened with sin, countless people are going to therapy as victims. And rather than confronting personal sin and pointing a person to the Savior, such therapists are looking for sins that might have been committed against their clients and point people to their own selves.

If believers in the Lord Jesus Christ would only take confidence in His Word they would not get caught up in psychological counseling that attempts to resurrect the past in order to change the present. Paul declared, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Why are so many people trying to dig up the past? And, why are so many people following the trends of the world and possibly creating new memories that replace and destroy memories of actual events? Why do pastors send members of their flock out to such dangerous nonsense?

This article is not meant to minimize true pain, but rather to point people to the only true remedy for sin and its results. And that is to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the only answer to sin and its devastation.

Well, this is a very "touchy" subject. False memories, real memories, implanted memories???

That is the question!!! Of course, for mind control victims, I would assume it could be all three.

I would like to ask some of the doctors on the False Memory Syndrome Foundation why my brain would house memories of being the victim of a "government cult" who was used as a drug mule, a political prositute for blackmail, in Mafia/CIA pornography, subjected to torture, interrogation, deliberately traumatized to create multiple personalities, raped, etc. and my husband's doesn't.

The answer is simple and doesn't require Pamela Freud to answer!!. Because my husband remembers his childhood like thousands of other people do and mine has always been one big blur until about four years ago when they went through with their plan of flying jumbo jets through skyscrapers and I "awoke" to the reality of my past. The "operative" word is skyscraper because at the time, they didn't know which building(s) were going to be the target(s).

Now, ask the parent's of the children at Presidio day care who were abused by Michael Aquino and his cohorts if their children reported their abuse to them before or after they were counseled.

If it was before, how then did these memories make their way into all of these children's brain. Was it a group conspiracy by
pre-schoolers or a government conspiracy?

Satanic ritual abuse is real, but just as the government has convinced the world it doesn't exist; although there are thousands upon thousands of claims that it does, the masses have been brainwashed to believe that those who say it happened to them are what? remembering it because it just happened to land in their brain for some unbeknownst reason; saying it because they want attention; saying it because they have a wild imagination; saying it because they were coerced; saying it because they're crazy.

NO!! They're saying it because it happened!!

They "skin children alive." Right down to their SKULL AND BONES!!!

They love the smell of death and throwing bodies into incinerators.

Our government has convinced society, as well, that anyone who believes the CIA is out to get them is a "paranoid schizophrenic."

Their "mind games" if not played on you, can make another appear that way.

I wouldn't trust the CIA with my life or my intelligence. I trust the PEOPLE first!!

In fact, not too long ago, at my favorite coffe house, Starbucks, where mind games were being played, one of the employees handed me a certificate for a free cup of whatever and it said, "to one of our best customers."

Inside, she had drawn a picture for me. Spelling my real name the way they use to say it.

There was a farmer strumming a banjo, an animal and inside the "bubble" it read, "The FARM misses you."

In Peace,
BlueAngel

Procoyn

06-15-2005 10:49 PM

Re: False Memory Syndrome

False memories are ridiculously easy to implant. You get something like a 55% success rate amoung elementary-school children just by having somebody come in once a week and ask a question. These memorise were indistinguishable from real ones, and included details that weren't even mentioned. (The implanted memory was simply "going to the hospital with a moustrap on your finger", but the children remembered the doctor's name, which car they took, what their family members said, how they got the trap on their finger in the fist place and more.)

Conclusion: Because implanting false memories is so easy, even if real repressed ones did exist it would probably be easier to make fake ones than to draw out the real ones.

Imagine someone brainwashing children through popular kids' software?

06-16-2005 03:38 PM

Re: False Memory Syndrome

Let me see if I can explain the "False Memory Syndrome Foundation" so that OTHERS can have a better understanding of their purpose.

THEY ARE A CIA FRONT THAT PERSUADES THE COUNTRY AND THE PSYCHIATRIC COMMUNITY TO DISBELIEVE ANYONE WHO CLAIMS THAT THEY HAVE RECOVERED REPRESSED MEMORIES OF HORRIFIC SEXUAL AND/OR SRA ABUSE!!!

Why would this be their purpose?

Because the CIA, in otherwords, the government of the United States of America, the "rogue" CIA is responsible for the implementation of mind control programs in this country and one, in particular, Project Monarch, is a "government cult," and a satanic one for that matter.

We would not have any knowledge about mind control programs had author John Marks, "The Manchurian Candidate" not requested documents under the FOIA.

The military is involved and so too were they responsible for the sexual abuse of the children at Presidio.

Just GOOGLE Colonel Michael Aquino and read the various charges he has come up against but escaped. Why? Because he is protected by the government. The charges will never stick just like the charges against Michael Jackson will never stick even though several children have accused him of sexual abuse.

Is it just coincidence that Colonel Michael Aquino was a member of a satanic sect by the name of the Temple of Set? Or, that he is now a member of Anton LaVay's satanic set?

The answer is NO!!!

Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is a front for the CIA. Peter Pan is a theme used in mind control programming. You never grow up because they can call out child-like alters for their own sexual deviant pedophile desires no matter how old you are.

Michael Jackson is most probably a mind control victim. They USE him and hide behind him by luring sick children to his ranch. Most times if accusations are made of sexual abuse, the parent's of these children can be easily discredited and made to appear as if they have coerced their children to lie in order to make a monetary settlement.

Good reason to use entertainment figures. Large fan base, too, that stands behind them. Who would ever think a musician/actor could be a pedophile? How can a star be guilty when so many people around the world love him? Did they ever visit his ranch? Did they ever sleep in his bed? Michael Jackson would never speak out against them. They would allow him to go to jail first. He didn't speak out against them because it's just too deep and so he is a free man.

When I spoke out as a child 30 plus years ago, I was met with almost the same reaction as those who have written books about being used in Presidential positions as sex slaves, etc. through mind control programs, namely Project Monarch.

They are not stupid. They use children who are "less fortunate" (like myself) whose parents do not have the resources and credibility to withstand a character assassination in the press and court room or ability to file a lawsuit.

They can hire the best attorneys, bribe the judge, pay the jurors and receive the most press coverage.

How much did we see of the accuser? Very little. He is most probably wondering why people did not believe him!!!!

Michael Jackson and LaToya have spoken publicly about their abusive father and then LaToya recanted because you are banished from the family for giving up the secret.

These are the types of children THEY look for when recruiting those who are not born into the cult, not part of the NWO, not an elitist, not part of the Illuminati. Talented and gifted; from less fortunate circumstances such as Michael Jackson.

They can see this from standardized testing. They can see this from Personality Assessment Tests.

Some fathers are caught sending pornography through the mail and the FEDS looked for this and then made deals to exchange their children for use in the program to escape jail time. They were definately at my school looking for those with photographic memories. Only reason we had to memorize the capitols and Presidents in order when in first grade.

They force children who are victims of their mind control programs to take part in criminal activities so this ensures the child's silence. Imagine being forced to participate in the sacrifice of another child or made to sexually abuse another child. As a child, you have no recourse. No where to turn because if your government can't protect you. If your government are the perpetrators, who can? They make you feel responsible for the criminal and immoral activities they force upon you.

Children who are sexually abused at home are already pre-disposed to DID. Possessing talent is what they desire. They move you up the ladder through their entertainment channels and ownership of Hollywood.

These types of children are used in the entertainment business, pornography, as drug mules, etc. by the CIA.

They are "million dollar" babies. Raking in millions for the CIA.

The CIA controls the MAFIA!! The Mafia is the middleman.

I am a victim/survivor of "Project Monarch" and was not in therapy when I began to recall my abuse at the hands of the government and the CIA. I was used to sexually blackmail politicians because MONARCH is a control mechanism. They needed a way in which to control CONGRESS so they corrupt those who are easily corrupted. Offer drugs and money; create an atmosphere that induces men to stray and adopt sexual deviant behavior. Especially if they are protected from prosecution.

Will these men ever speak out against them? No!! Not when they have pictures in their files of them engaging in sexual acts with children.

Are my memories of whom was involved 100 percent accurate?

NO!!

That is why I write about what I know and not whom I remember unless it can be verified.